1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to command recognition, and more particularly, to voice command recognition.
2. Related Art
Using electronic devices to browse information contained in documents is what many people do every day. Herein the used electronic devices can be personal computers (PCs), notebook computers (NBs), tablet computers, smart phones, internet protocol televisions (IPTVs), set-top boxes (STBs), and video game consoles, etc. The documents being browsed can be webpages and other documents that contain information.
A document, especially a webpage, can include a plurality of command-associated text strings. A command-associated text string contains one or more than one successive letters/words, whether in the text format or appears in an image. Each of the command-associated text string is associated with at least one command. Such a command can be a hyperlink-related command that, for example, can cause the electronic device to open another document or to jump to a bookmark within the currently-browsed or another document. As another example, a command of another type can cause the electronic device to show a menu/image, to start an application program, or to send a message to a device hosting the document being browsed.
Frequently, the user browsing the document can see a command-associated text string if the text string is within a displayed region of the document. In contrast, the user browsing the document normally does not see the detail of the command associated with the text string because the associated command frequently appears only in the source code of the document and is not displayed.
FIG. 1 shows a part of the USPTO's webpage for patent captured by the applicants on Jan. 10, 2012, with some italicized illustrations added by the applicants additionally. The address of this webpage is http://www.uspto.gov/patents/index.jsp. This webpage has a banner area that contains command-associated text strings of “PATENTS,” “TRADEMARKS,” “IP LAW & POLICY,” . . . , “FAQs,” and “ABOUT.” For example, the command-associated text string of “IP LAW & POLICY” is associated with a hyperlink-related command that can cause the electronic device to open the webpage on http://www.uspto.gov/ip/index.jsp. In addition, the webpage shown in FIG. 1 has a sidebar area that contains command-associated text strings of “Patent Process,” “Patent Classification,” “Patent Forms,” . . . , “Employee Locator,” and “Contact Patents.” For example, the command-associated text string of “Patent Forms” is associated with a hyperlink-related command that can cause the electronic device to open the webpage on http://www.uspto.gov/forms/index.jsp. Furthermore, the webpage shown in FIG. 1 has a body area that contains images of “Search Patents,” “PAIR,” “EFS-Web,” . . . , “ACCELERATED EXAMINATION,” and “Contact Us.” Each of these text strings contained in the images is a command-associated text string. For example, the command-associated text string of “PAIR” is associated with a hyperlink-related command that can cause the electronic device to open the webpage on http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/status/index.jsp.
The electronic device used to browse the document will execute a command when the user browsing the document does something to the text string associated with that command. Conventionally, the user can have the electronic device execute the command by moving a cursor onto the command-associated text string, or by clicking/touching the command-associated text string.
The conventional methods mentioned in the previous paragraph may satisfy some people, but other people may still be interested in some other unconventional methods. These conventional methods may be convenient for users of PCs, NBs, tablet computers, and smart phones. However, users of devices such as IPTVs, STBs, and video game consoles may find the conventional methods difficult to use because these devices may not have convenient user input interfaces.